Search results for "Coccolithophores"

Productivity modes in the Mediterranean Sea during Dansgaard–Oeschger (20,000–70,000 yr ago) oscillations

2013

The study of planktonic organisms during abrupt climatic variations of the last glacial period (Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations, D-O) may reveal important insights on climatic, oceanographic and biological interactions. Here we present planktic foraminifera and coccolithophore data collected at the Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 (Sicily Channel), with a mean sampling resolution of respectively 43.5 and 98.9. yr, over the interval between 70,000 and 20,000. yr ago. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction suggests that three different scenarios can be seen across each D-O cycle: 1. oligotrophic surface water and a deep thermocline for the early Interstadials; 2. a Deep Chlorophyll Maximum and …

The Uniqueness of Planktonic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: The Response to Orbital- and Suborbital-Climatic Forcing over the Last 130,000 Years

2016

AbstractThe Mediterranean Sea is an ideal location to test the response of organisms to hydrological transformations driven by climate change. Here we review studies carried out on planktonic foraminifera and coccolithophores during the late Quaternary and attempt the comparison of data scattered in time and space. We highlight the prompt response of surface water ecosystems to both orbital- and suborbital-climatic variations.A markedly different spatial response was observed in calcareous plankton assemblages, possibly due to the influence of the North Atlantic climatic system in the western, central and northern areas and of the monsoon system in the easternmost and southern sites. Orbita…

Calcifying phytoplankton standing stocks in the North Pacific from the R/V Kilo Moana cruise KM1712

2022

This dataset compiles the CaCO3 standing stocks of living coccolithophores (mg/m³), of detached coccoliths (mg/m³) and the integrated CaCO3 standing stocks of coccolithophores (mg/m²). The samples were collected in the North Pacific between Hawaii and the Gulf of Alaska during the R/V Kilo Moana cruise KM1712 in August 2017, with rosette Niskin bottles equiped with CTD (Sea-Bird SBE 9) at different depths throughout the photic zone including the deep chlorophyll maximum. To estimate the CaCO3 contribution by coccolithophore assemblages in each sample, we carried out the transformation of coccospheres in number of coccoliths, following the estimates by Yang and Wei (2003), and then we adopte…

Integrated annual calcium carbonate production of planktic calcifiers in the North Pacific from the R/V Kilo Moana cruise KM1712

2022

This dataset compiles the estimates of annual CaCO3 production, including the upper and lower limits of the estimates, for the 4 planktic calcifying groups considered in the study, the pteropods (mg/m²/yr), the heteropods (mg/m²/yr), the foraminifers (mg/m²/yr) and the coccolithophores (mg/m²/yr). The estimates derived from the living standing stocks of these 4 groups of organisms collected in the North Pacific between Hawaii and the Gulf of Alaska during the R/V Kilo Moana cruise KM1712 in August 2017. R code was used to calculate the integrated annual CaCO3 production for the different organisms, including the upper and lower limits (Gray, 2022).

Planktic calcifiers standing stocks and carbonate production in the North Pacific from the R/V Kilo Moana cruise KM1712

2022

The data collection consists of 3 datasets: - Zooplankton standing stocks: this dataset compiles the standing stocks (ind/m³), the integrated standing stocks (ind/m²) and the integrated CaCO3 standing stocks (mg/m²) for three groups of zooplanktonic calcifying organisms, pteropods, heteropods and foraminifers. The organisms were collected by oblique towing (Ø 0.5 m, 90 μm mesh size, SeaGear mechanical flowmeter) in the North Pacific between Hawaii and the Gulf of Alaska during the R/V Kilo Moana cruise KM1712 in August 2017. The sampling strategy was designed to capture an integrated sample of all foraminifers, pteropods and heteropods from juveniles to adults living throughout the upper wa…

Uniqueness of Planktonic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: The Response to Orbital- and Suborbital-Climatic Forcing over the Last 130,000 Years

2016

The Mediterranean Sea is an ideal location to test the response of organisms to hydrological transformations driven by climate change. Here we review studies carried out on planktonic foraminifera and coccolithophores during the late Quaternary and attempt the comparison of data scattered in time and space. We highlight the prompt response of surface water ecosystems to both orbital- and suborbital-climatic variations. A markedly different spatial response was observed in calcareous plankton assemblages, possibly due to the influence of the North Atlantic climatic system in the western, central and northern areas and of the monsoon system in the easternmost and southern sites. Orbital-induc…

The impact of the Little ice age on coccolithophores in the central Mediterranea Sea

2010

The Little Ice Age (LIA) is the last episode of a series of Holocene climatic anomalies. There is still little knowledge on the response of the marine environment to the pronounced cooling of the LIA and to the transition towards the 20th century global warming. Here we present decadal-scale coccolithophore data from four short cores recovered from the central Mediterranean Sea (northern Sicily Channel and Tyrrhenian Sea), which on the basis of <sup>210</sup>Pb activity span the last 200–350 years. The lowermost part of the record of one of the cores from the Sicily Channel, Station 407, which extends down to 1650 AD, is characterized by drastic changes in productivity. Specific…

Coccolithophores in Water Samples and Fossil Assemblages in Sedimentary Archives of the Mediterranean Sea: A Review

2011

The Messian Salinity Crisis and the catastrophic Zanclean flooding of the dessicated Mediterranean: the Red Sea record

2013

Ten Years of Paleoceanographic Studies at ODP Site 963 (Central Mediterranean Sea)

2014

The geographical location, the shape and the circulation pattern makes the Mediterranean Sea an ideal laboratory to study the interplay between different climatic systems, abrupt climate changes and the response of marine ecosystems. The Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 was drilled in the Northwestern part of the Sicily Channel, the sill that divides the western from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Numerous papers have been published on Site 963 sediments in the last decade, investigating Mediterranean paleoceanographic themes. Here we offer a synthetic framework of these investigations carried out by sub-centennial resolution. We present the whole sequence of suborbital climatic oscillations…